This past late November/early December, I went on my first G Adventures tour to Costa Rica. It was also my first adventure type, nature-y focused trip I’ve been on. I did things that were totally outside of my comfort zone, things I would normally be afraid of and would hesitate to do. Like, for example, I went canyoneering [while it was pouring rain], ziplining “Superman” style high up above the canopy forest and did the Super Tarzan Swing (where you jump off from high up and free fall for almost 5 seconds before you swing back and forth), went on a night walk through a forest where there were creepy crawlies galore including snakes, tarantulas, and insects. And most significantly, I went on the Cerro Chato EXTREME hike, which really was extreme, up an inactive volcano beside Arenal Volcano.

And while these were activities that made me all nervous and scared to do at first, I have no regrets and I’d even say this was one of my best trips I’ve been on.

Since my last entry, I’ve been about a month and a half into classes. So far, I have to say that this has been a surreal, fun and fantastic self-growth experience. While in early classes I used to dread being chosen to join in the scene, groaning and panicking in fear of doing something stupid in front of the class, I’ve now decided on embracing being stupid and ridiculous in front of the class. Improv is about making mistakes and doing dumb things, so as my teacher says, so who cares – if it gets a laugh, great. If not, move on.

I also really get what Tina Fey refers to as improv as kind of a cult. Ever since I started taking classes, my mindset has become “I LOVE IMPROV!! I MUST SHOW THE WORLD MY LOVE OF IMPROV” and people who don’t get it, I don’t really get them. There’s something about being surrounded by people who have the same mindset, who appreciate comedy as much as I do that they will use their time and money to immerse themselves in this world.

In further trying to “expand my horizons” and cross an item off my bucket list, I signed up for improv classes at The Second City. Reading Tina Fey’s Bossypants really inspired me to get outside of my comfort zone (Oprah is like my religion and Tina Fey is my spirit animal) and push me into getting into an environment that’s all about thinking on my feet. Improv is a great way for funny and unfunny people to hone their skills for both life and the workplace, at least that is what Bossypants indicated.

So far, I’m two lessons in and I will try to blog in a series my experience as a newbie in improv.

A mere month (or so) ago, I had put “meet Oprah” as my Before I Die aspiration, thinking it would never, ever happen. Sure, I may have deluded myself into thinking that Oprah and I were totes going to become BFFs, or the next incarnation of a buddy cop comedy duo like Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, after she tweeted me back in October. But let’s be real, there’s us mere plebeians and there’s Oprah — these paths rarely cross.

But, the stars must have aligned because on April 13th, 2013, I did end up meeting Oprah-freakin’-Winfrey. Alas, this meeting didn’t result in her asking if she could adopt me or inviting me to a sleepover where we would braid each other’s hair and chat about cute boys (then eventually offering me a show on OWN to try out cupcakes, burgers and pizza all over the world). It was still a remarkable experience, one that I cannot put into words how awesome it was, but I will try to in this post. Weeks later, I am still in disbelief.

I saw Salt-n-Pepa perform at Toronto’s Festival of Beer a.k.a. Beerfest on July 27th, 2012. Years later, and frankly after seeing their episode on Oprah, I didn’t even know or think they were still touring and performing. Even though they are in their mid-late 40s, you really wouldn’t know it – they looked and sounded great, still as talented as ever!

DJ Spinderella wasn’t there though, it was just Cheryl ‘Salt’ James and Sandra ‘Pepa’ Denton from the original group.

The Daily Show’s Samantha Bee has a new book out, a kind memoir of her childhood memories of growing up in Toronto. I’ll be updating this post as soon as I’ve finished reading the book and have coherently written out my thoughts of it (so far, it’s been an entertaining read with many literal “laugh out loud” moments) but for now, I’ll post my meet and greet story as well as some pictures taken from her book signing in Toronto on June 10th.

Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire had its gala screening at the Toronto International Film Festival and in attendance was director Lee Daniels, actors Paula Patton, Sherri Shepherd, Mariah Carey and newcomer Gabby Sidibe, and of course, executive producers Tyler Perry and Oprah. Mary J. Blige, who wrote the song “I Can See In Color” on the movie’s soundtrack, and Sapphire, author of Push, were also in attendance for the screening. Lucky for me, I had the opportunity to not only see them on stage to introduce the film, but also watch this incredibly powerful movie before it was released into theatres nationwide. Now the winner of TIFF’s People’s Choice Award!

It’s hard to believe how fast time flies by. I can still remember the days of being a scrawny 7th grader, belting out the lyrics to “Don’t Speak” in the school’s corridor during recess with my friends. It was pretty much the only thing we could do to keep ourselves from freezing in the cold and entertained, as we had no playground and the schoolyard was bare. More than a decade later, I find myself, perhaps just as scrawny and off-tune as back then, singing loudly and happily along to “Don’t Speak” in unison with the rest of the crowd at the Air Canada Centre. And for those few moments, it was like I was 13 years old again.

March 18, 2009 — I went to the Britney Spears “Circus” concert at the Air Canada Centre. It was a visual spectacle. The production value was way up there, with elaborate sets and side-show acts to keep the audience entertained between costume changes. The stage was set as a three ring circus, with a larger middle ring above which numerous aerial acts involving wires and suspension were performed for certain numbers. For example, during the “Everytime” number, Britney sat on the handle of a giant umbrella as it was suspended above the arena. Due to the layout of the stage, any location within the arena provided a decent view of the show. However, and perhaps to the benefit of Britney, there was no jumbotron to show up-close shots of the stage. While there was a jumbotron there, that was circular and wrapped above the middle ring, it mostly served to show intro videos to performances, which were actually rather well done and reminiscent of an actual music video. One video shown right before “Freakshow” was played to the track of Marilyn Manson’s “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)” from his 1995 Smells Like Children album — which seemed somewhat out of place but fitting nonetheless. The side-show acts with circus folk (or carnies?), though sometimes drawn on for a bit too long, provided entertainment between the lulls and really made it a circus atmosphere. Could’ve done without the clowns though, not a fan of clowns.

Dear Zachary is a powerful documentary by Kurt Kuenne, whose sole intent for creating the film was to memorialize his murdered best friend. But as the story unfolds, the film evolves into so much more. At its premise, Dear Zachary is about how one man’s life was needlessly and viciously taken away from his loved ones, an act that we later on learn was entirely preventable, had the system been more stringent. There are moments of joy, moments of anger and moments that will leave you in tears. Word of advice: have a box of tissues handy. It’ll also make you wonder why. Why did the system fail, and so tremendously so, causing innocent lives to be lost?